I grew up in a house with a lovely big garden and vege patch. I loved being able to go out and pick something fresh to eat, or to sit under the plum trees with a book on a sunny weekend. I've been living in apartments for most of the last 4 years and the lack of greenery has been hard. Having a little bit of life around does wonders for my mood. I've had 4 pots of herbs and two pots of flowers which have all died from under or over watering. I just can't seem to get it right!

So I bought some succulents. The ultimate I am a terrible plant owner plant.

And in celebration of their continued living I made cake pops! Cake pops are great because they are bite sized and cute. I recommend making yours with a chocolate ganache instead of buttercream.

I'm thinking next time some spun toffee would work as spines. And you could make buttercream flowers to put on top ala these cacti.

On to the how to. I thought pictures would help so scroll down for the full instructions.

Crumble up the cake until it is mostly fine. I did this with a fork and my fingers. Add in the ganache and mix until you reach a play-dough like consistency. You always need less ganache than you think so add it in a quarter cup at a time.

Mould into various cactus shapes. Chill these shapes for about 15 minutes.Melt white chocolate with about 1/2 - 1 tsp of coconut oil. This helps it be a dippable consistency. Add green food colouring. (It is VERY important that you use and oil based food colouring. If you use gel or water based colouring the chocolate will seize. Get powder colouring from a specialty cooking store.)

Dip the tip of a lollipop stick and then push into the base of the cake ball. You want to push this in about 2/3 of the way through. Be careful not to split the cake ball.For the traditional cactus, use a tooth pick and a little white chocolate to attach the arms. Chill for another 15 minutes.

Dip the cake ball into your white chocolate, making sure to cover up to the lollipop stick.

Tap off the excess white chocolate.

Add sprinkles or any other decorations while the chocolate is still wet.Place to dry in a mug (where the stick is able to stand without leaning on the cactus.) Store in an airtight container. Best within 3 days.